Why Today Was a Good Day for Mitt Romney

A Ray of Hope

Why today was a good day for Mitt Romney.

Every day until the election, Slate will offer up one reason to be optimistic for your candidate.

Six days to go:

Today’s Good News for Romney: In spite of passing a massive overhaul of America’s health care system, Barack Obama is increasingly mistrusted to manage Medicare and Medicaid, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Only 46 percent of likely voters were confident that Obama would handle Medicare better than his Republican opponent, while 41 percent preferred Romney to the president. That’s a 5 point gain by Romney since September, and a startling 6 point drop for Obama in the same period of time. Similarly, Obama holds a mere 7 percent lead on the issue of handling Medicaid, down from 18 percent two months ago. And while likely voters still believe Obama will lower their health care costs more than Romney, the president’s lead in that category has fallen precipitously, from 16 points in September to 7 points now. Romney’s attempt to convince voters of his expertise on the issue has clearly been effective. That could be a crucial factor in a swing state like Florida, where a candidate’s bona fides on Medicare might make or break his chances for office.